<p>I am a rising junior, and I plan to major in biochemistry or biomedical engineering. Next year, should I take regular organic chemistry and suffer the GPA drop from the class not being honors, or should I take another honors elective in a subject which I'm not too interested in?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Most high schools don’t offer Organic Chem – they just offer AP Chem. </p>
<p>When you apply to college, you are going to be compared to all other college bound students at your high school, and you want your guidance counselor to give your course load the “Most Demanding” rating. So, what class are most college bound students at your high school taking – regular Organic Chem or honors Organic Chem? </p>
<p>I would recommend taking organic chemistry. Even if it’s not an honors and your GPA may drop a little, adcoms know that organic chemistry is a hard class so if you do well, it might look better than some random elective. Also, it’d be a good way for you to preview the types of things you’d be learning in college, especially with the majors you’re interested in. Another thing, it’s easier to do well in a class where you’re actually interested in the stuff you’re learning, even if it is an inherently difficult subject. </p>
<p>@gibby my school doesn’t offer honors organic chem. Neither does my local cc. The honors elective would be in a different subject.</p>
<p>@TheEarlyBird Thanks. That’s where I’m leaning but I don’t know how I would feel in the long run with a lower gpa…</p>
<p>This is one of the reasons I hate weighted GPAs - it’s causing you to consider not taking a course that is obviously worth your time for one that produces a “higher” GPA, when in reality, an A in either is a good grade. In fact, the organic chemistry A might actually be more impressive to colleges, but because your school only offers one version of the class, it’s not honors.</p>
<p>My advice to you as a future STEM major with organic in your future is to take organic, lower GPA be damned. It will prove to be far more valuable, will probably be just as if not more impressive to colleges, and any reduction in your weighted cummulative GPA (which is of limited worth) will be miniscule.</p>
<p>At the time, I hated that my high school didn’t weight GPA. In retrospect, I’m glad. This is why. The system shouldn’t be set up to discourage students from taking courses like this, or dropping arts classes because they hurt GPA. But I agree with the other posters - if you want to go into a STEM field, taking orgo is a really good idea. I had a semester of orgo in high school as part of my IB chem course, and I felt really well prepared going into college orgo.</p>
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<p>The STEM fields where organic chemistry is part of the curriculum are biology, biomedical engineering, chemistry, and chemical engineering. Other STEM fields typically do not require organic chemistry. Of course, pre-meds in any major have to take organic chemistry.</p>
<p>Obviously, since the OP is interested in biochemistry or biomedical engineering, organic chemistry is relevant. But generalizing about “STEM fields” does not make sense here.</p>
<p>Sorry, true - I just have my head in the bio-related realm.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your responses. I will continue to consider my paths in the next couple of days before making a decision.</p>